JP2014113266A - Rice cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problems that conventionally, there is no rice cooker which can boil up with good flavor, cereal grains of brown rice and rice with embryo before milling without passing a step of previously soaking in water.SOLUTION: The rice cooker for cereal grains before milling includes: an inner pot; an inner pot heating part; a pressure adjusting valve for adjusting a pressure in the inner pot in a closed state to 1.5-2.2 air pressure as an upper limit; a boiling recipe execution part for executing a boiling recipe including a first step of controlling the inner pot heating part so as to keep a temperature in the inner pot outer bottom part at 110°C±10°C for a prescribed time in a state of closing the pressure adjusting valve, without passing a step of soaking and keeping cereal grains before milling in water after input reception of an operation start instruction, and a second step of controlling the inner pot heating part so as to raise a temperature in the inner pot outer bottom part to 135±20°C after a lapse of the prescribed time; and an operation start instruction input reception part for receiving an input of a boiling operation start instruction.

Description

  The present invention relates to a rice cooker suitable for cooking brown rice and the like.

  In recent years, the high nutritional value of brown rice has attracted attention, and the number of people who eat it has increased. By the way, unpolished rice is rice that has been covered with rice bran just by removing rice husks. Since this rice bran layer is hard, when brown rice is cooked, it is not cooked suitable for eating unless it is immersed in water for a longer time than when white rice is cooked. Therefore, rice cookers for cooking brown rice in a shorter time are provided.

  For example, the rice cooker described in Patent Document 1 alternately raises and lowers the pressure in the pan by repeatedly opening and closing the pressure valve in the boiling maintenance step of maintaining the inside of the pan containing the brown rice in a boiling state. It is characterized by repetition. The brown rice is vigorously agitated by the bumping phenomenon repeatedly caused by such an operation, thereby destroying the straw layer of the brown rice, promoting water absorption of the brown rice, and enabling rice cooking in a short time.

JP 2006-325715 A

  The above rice cooker damages the straw layer by vigorously stirring the brown rice, but at this time, not only the straw layer but also the endosperm may be damaged. In other words, the endosperm may be cracked or cracked. In such a case, the water absorption of the endosperm varies, resulting in uneven cooking. Moreover, by repeatedly opening and closing the pressure valve, temperature fluctuations and pressure fluctuations in the pan frequently occur, which also causes uneven cooking. Since the unevenness of cooking is a thing that impairs the flavor, the above rice cooker can cook rice in a short time without immersing brown rice in water beforehand, but about cooking brown rice with flavor Remains a challenge.

  Then, in order to solve the said subject, in this invention, the following pre-milling grain grain rice cookers are provided. That is, as the first invention, an inner pot, an inner pot heating unit, a pressure adjusting valve that adjusts the pressure in the inner pot in a closed state so that 1.5 to 2.2 atm is the upper limit, After receiving the operation start command, the inner bottom pan temperature is maintained at 110 ° C. ± 10 ° C. for a predetermined time with the pressure regulating valve closed without passing through the step of immersing the pre-milled grains in water. A rice cooking recipe consisting of a first step for controlling the pot heating unit and a second step for controlling the inner pot heating unit to raise the temperature of the inner pot outer bottom to 135 ± 20 ° C. after the predetermined time has elapsed is executed. There is provided a pre-refined grain rice cooker having a rice cooking recipe execution unit for receiving and an operation start command input receiving unit for receiving an input of an operation start command for cooking rice.

  As 2nd invention, the time which performs said 1st step provides the grain rice cooker before grain refinement | determination as described in 1st invention which is 10-25 minutes.

  As 3rd invention, the said rice cooking recipe is 1st invention or 2nd invention which has a 3rd step which controls an inner-pan heating part so that it may heat-retain in a pressure regulation valve closed state after completion | finish of said 2nd step. A pre-milling grain rice cooker as described is provided.

  As 4th invention, the time which performs said 3rd step is 20 to 90 minutes, The grain rice cooker before whitening of Claim 3 is provided.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION By this invention, even if brown rice etc. are not previously immersed in water, the rice cooker before the whitening which can be cooked with sufficient flavor can be provided.

Schematic diagram of grain rice cooker before milling according to Embodiment 1 Functional block diagram of a grain rice cooker before milling according to Embodiment 1 The conceptual diagram which shows the aspect of control by the rice cooking recipe which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. Table showing evaluation results for each condition of the first step Table showing evaluation results for each condition of the first step and the second step Functional block diagram of the grain rice cooker before milling according to the second embodiment The conceptual diagram which shows the aspect of control by the rice cooking recipe which concerns on Embodiment 2. FIG. Table showing evaluation results for each condition in the third step

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, this invention should not be limited to these embodiments at all, and can be implemented in various modes without departing from the gist thereof.

The first embodiment mainly relates to claims 1 and 2. The second embodiment mainly relates to claims 3 and 4.
<Embodiment 1>
<Summary of Embodiment 1>

The pre-milling grain rice cooker of this embodiment is characterized in that the inner pot heating unit is controlled so that the temperature of the outer bottom of the inner pot is maintained for a predetermined time at 110 ° C. ± 10 ° C. with the pressure regulating valve closed. The inner pan is pressurized and the boiling point is increased to rapidly evaporate the water in the pan, and the cereal grains before whitening are boiled for a predetermined time at a high water temperature. By continuing to boil under this high temperature and pressure, the cocoon layer of the grain before pre-milling is broken and decomposed to promote water absorption of the endosperm. Thereby, rice can be cooked without soaking grain grains before milling such as brown rice in water.
<Configuration of Embodiment 1>

  FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a grain rice cooker before milling according to the present embodiment. The pre-milling grain rice cooker (0100) has an inner pot (0102) inside the main body (0101), an inner pot heating unit (0103) that heats the inner pot, and an inner pot heating unit that controls the rice cooking recipe. It has a rice cooking recipe execution part (0104) to be executed, an operation start command input reception part (0105), and a pressure adjustment valve (0106) for adjusting the pressure in the inner pot.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the pre-milling grain rice cooker of the present embodiment. The grain rice cooker (0200) before milling includes an inner pot (0201), an inner pot heating unit (0202), a pressure regulating valve (0203), an operation start command input receiving unit (0204), and a rice cooking recipe execution unit. (0205). The rice cooking recipe executed by the rice cooking recipe execution unit includes a first step (0206) and a second step (0207).

  The “inner pot” is a container for storing pre-milled grains and water used for cooking rice. For example, it is formed of stainless steel or aluminum alloy whose surface is coated with fluorine resin or the like. As will be described later, in this embodiment, since the cooking is performed in a state where the inside of the inner pot is raised to atmospheric pressure or higher, a strong inner pot such as a so-called pressure cooker is desirable.

  “Pre-milling grain” means grain before milling. Grain grains are edible plant seeds, such as rice, barley, rice bran, rice bran, corn, etc., which are seeds of the grass family, leguminous soybeans, red beans, and the like. “Before whitening” means that before whitening, which is the meaning of removing the seed cocoon layer (fruit skin, seed coat, glue layer) and germ, is completed. Therefore, if the seed is rice, brown rice, germinated rice, split rice, and the like correspond to pre-milling grains.

  In addition, although the grain rice cooker of this embodiment is a device for cooking the above-mentioned grain before pre-milling, it is a pressure cooker for cooking foods other than the grain before pre-milling under pressure. Can also be used.

  The “inner pot heating unit” functions to heat the inner pot. The inner pot is heated on the outer bottom portion, side peripheral surface, upper side, and the like of the inner pot, and each is provided with a heat source for heating. The heating to boil rice grains before watering and the like that is stored in the inner pot is mainly responsible for heating the outer bottom of the inner pot, Good. Moreover, in the heat insulation etc. of the inner pot after cooking rice, the heating to the outer bottom part of an inner pot is stopped or weakened, and it heats with respect to the side peripheral surface and upper side of an inner pot. The inner pot heating unit is, for example, an electric heater or an IH (induction heating) heater. Moreover, you may heat using gas.

  The “pressure adjusting valve” adjusts the pressure in the inner pot so that the upper limit is 1.5 to 2.2 atm in the closed state. When the set upper limit is exceeded, it is opened and the pressure in the inner pan is released. The pressure regulating valve can be implemented by a known technique. For example, the opening and closing of the valve can be adjusted using a weight, a spring, a lever, or the like corresponding to the upper limit pressure.

  The “cooking recipe execution unit” controls heating by the inner pot heating unit. Control by the rice cooking recipe execution part is performed based on the rice cooking recipe previously stored in memory | storage devices, such as memory. A rice cooking recipe execution part is implement | achieved by CPU, memory, a timer, etc., for example. Control of the temperature for the inner pot heating unit may be performed by controlling the amount of heat applied to the inner pot, or a temperature sensor may be used.

  A rice cooking recipe is a program for controlling each part including an inner-pan heating part, in order to cook rice appropriately. For example, a program corresponding to various conditions such as the type and amount of a rice cooking object such as brown rice or white rice, the cooking time or time, and the like are stored as a rice cooking recipe.

  In this embodiment, especially the rice cooking recipe which has the following 1st steps and 2nd steps as a rice cooking recipe for cooking rice without previously immersing brown rice in water is demonstrated.

  The “first step” is to set the temperature at the outer bottom of the inner pot at 110 ° C. ± 10 ° C. with the pressure regulating valve closed without passing through the step of immersing and holding the grain before pre-milling in water after receiving the operation start command. The inner pot heating unit is controlled to hold for a predetermined time. FIG. 3: is the graph which showed the aspect of the control by the rice cooking recipe which has a 1st step and a 2nd step as the control temperature of the time for a horizontal axis and a vertical axis | shaft heating part. In addition, the control temperature of the inner pot heating part means the temperature of the outer bottom part of the inner pot, and the control temperature of “100 ° C.” means that the temperature of the outer bottom part of the inner pot becomes “100 ° C.”. It means that the inner pot heating part is controlled.

  Further, “when the pressure regulating valve is closed” does not mean forcibly closing the pressure regulating valve. By adjusting the control temperature of the inner pot heating unit and the upper limit of the pressure adjustment valve so that the pressure in the inner pot rising due to heating of the inner pot heating unit does not exceed the upper limit of the pressure adjustment valve, the first step is performed. This means that the pressure regulating valve remains closed during execution.

  Here, the input reception of the operation start command for performing rice cooking is performed by the “operation start command input reception unit”. The operation start command input receiving unit has a function of receiving an input for starting the operation of rice cooking based on the rice cooking recipe. Specifically, it is implemented by an input interface such as a mechanical switch, button, or touch panel.

  In the first step, when an input of an operation start command such as “rice cooking start” is accepted, heating by the inner pot heating unit is started without going through a step of immersing and holding pre-milled grains such as brown rice in water. This dipping and holding step is a step provided for a predetermined time for the purpose of allowing the pre-whitening grain to absorb water before heating. Conventionally, when pre-milling grains such as brown rice are cooked, the rice is soaked in water for 30 minutes to several hours and then heated to cook rice. In such a dipping step, brown rice and the like are stored together with water, and the operation instruction such as “brown rice cooking” is received and left without heating until the predetermined time elapses, and heating is started after the predetermined time elapses. It was done in a manner. In the present embodiment, no steps are required for soaking in water. And the inner pot heating part is controlled so that the temperature of the inner pot outer bottom part is maintained at 110 ° C. ± 10 ° C. for a predetermined time while the pressure regulating valve is closed. In FIG. 3, the period “A” is a predetermined time to be held. The predetermined time varies depending on the amount of grain before milling, but is preferably about 10 to 25 minutes.

  Cooking rice is a process in which an object is boiled at the initial stage of a lot of water, steamed when the amount of water is low, and further evaporated. Of these, the boiled process is a process of absorbing water into the grain before pre-milling, but brown rice and the like are not easily absorbed by the endosperm because of the rice bran layer. Therefore, it is necessary to take sufficient steps to boil the cocoon layer in order to break the cocoon layer and promote the water absorption of the endosperm and to make the cocoon layer soft and easy to eat. Therefore, in the first step, the grain before pre-milling is boiled under high temperature and high pressure.

  Specifically, the state in which the grain before-milling is boiled is maintained while the upper limit of the pressure in the inner pot is 1.5 to 2.2 atm. The inside pan is set to a pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure to raise the boiling point, and boiled at a temperature higher than 100 ° C. to boil the grain before pre-milling. At this time, the temperature is preferably 110 ° C. ± 10 ° C. If the temperature is too high, the moisture evaporates quickly and the cooking time is shortened. If the temperature is too low, it cannot be sufficiently boiled, and in any case, water absorption of the grain before milling becomes insufficient. In this first step, sufficient water absorption of the grain before pre-milling is performed, so that the step of immersing and holding the grain before-milling in water before cooking becomes unnecessary.

  In the “second step”, the inner pot heating unit is controlled so as to raise the temperature of the outer bottom portion of the inner pot to 135 ± 20 ° C. after the elapse of the predetermined time in the first step. In FIG. 3, the control in the second step is performed during the period “B”. In this step, the temperature in the inner pot is further raised, and the moisture in the inner pot is evaporated and cooked while steaming the pre-whitening grains. Heating under high pressure helps to bring moisture into the grain before pre-milling and also helps to soften the cocoon layer.

In addition, when brown rice etc. are cooked with the grain rice cooker before whitening in this embodiment, it is also preferable to add a red bean, an enzyme, etc. to rice grains before whitening, such as brown rice. Due to the action of the added enzyme and the like, the decomposition reaction of starch and protein contained in the grain before pre-milling proceeds, increasing the nutritional value and extracting sweetness and umami at the time of cooking. In addition, as an enzyme to add, a plant-derived enzyme is preferable. For example, an enzyme obtained from apple, grape, pear, strawberry, loquat, fig, yellow aloe vera, cabbage, carrot and the like is preferable. It is also preferable to add a salt.
<Embodiment 1 test>

  The temperature and the predetermined holding time in the first step and the temperature in the second step are obtained by a test conducted by the present inventors. Therefore, the test that has led to these conditions will be described.

  The test was conducted on four subjects who eat brown rice on a daily basis. And after setting the temperature and time to be held in the first step in various ways and eating brown rice cooked under each setting, pay attention to "hardness", "sweetness" and "color gloss" did. Evaluation was performed by scoring within the range of “bad = 0 points” to “delicious = 3 points”.

  FIG. 4 is a table showing evaluation results for each combination of conditions of the temperature held in the first step (S1 temperature) and the holding time in the first step (S1 holding time). The evaluation results when the S1 time is 90 ° C. to 130 ° C. and the S1 holding time is 5 minutes to 25 minutes are shown.

  According to this evaluation result, good evaluation was obtained when the S1 temperature was in the range of 100 ° C. to 120 ° C. and the S1 holding time was in the range of 10 minutes to 25 minutes. When the S1 temperature was low and the S1 holding time was too short, the cooked rice was sticky and the core remained in the brown rice, which was not suitable for eating. On the other hand, if the S1 temperature is high and the S1 holding time is too long, the cooked food becomes crispy or burnt, which is not suitable for eating.

  FIG. 5 is a table showing evaluation results for each combination of conditions of the S1 temperature and the temperature in the second step (S2 temperature). The evaluation result when S1 temperature shall be 100 to 120 degreeC and S2 temperature shall be 100 to 150 degreeC is shown.

According to the evaluation results, the evaluation results were good when the S1 temperature was 110 ° C or 120 ° C and the S2 temperature was 130 ° C to 150 ° C. Conditions under which good results were obtained are shown in the table surrounded by bold lines. In addition, when S2 temperature was 160 degreeC or more, it was burnt and it was not suitable for eating.
<Embodiment 1 effect>

The pre-refining cereal grain rice cooker of this embodiment can be cooked with good flavor even if the pre-refining cereal grains such as brown rice are not previously soaked in water.
<Embodiment 2>
<Overview of Embodiment 2>

The present embodiment is characterized in that the rice cooking recipe further includes a third step of controlling the inner pot heating unit so as to keep the temperature in the closed state of the pressure regulating valve after the second step is executed. By performing the second step, the pre-refining cereal grains are ready to be cooked and eaten, but by performing the steaming in the third step, it is possible to eat with better flavor.
<Embodiment 2 configuration>

  FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of the pre-milling grain rice cooker of the present embodiment. The grain rice cooker (0600) before milling includes an inner pot (0601), an inner pot heating unit (0602), a pressure adjustment valve (0603), an operation start command input receiving unit (0604), and a rice cooking recipe execution unit. (0605). And the rice cooking recipe which a rice cooking recipe execution part performs has a 1st step (0606), a 2nd step (0607), and a 3rd step (0608). This embodiment is based on Embodiment 1, and is the same as each part and each step in Embodiment 1 except that the third step is further included in the rice cooking recipe. Therefore, description of each part and each step other than the third step is omitted.

  The rice cooking recipe in this embodiment has the 3rd step which controls an inner-pan heating part so that it may heat-retain in a pressure regulation valve closed state after completion | finish of a 2nd step. The control for heat insulation means, for example, stopping heating to the outer bottom of the inner pot and maintaining gentle heating only on the side peripheral surface and upper side of the inner pot. The gentle heating means heating that does not cool the grain before milling and does not burn.

  FIG. 7: is the graph which showed the aspect of the control by the rice cooking recipe which has a 3rd step as the control temperature of the time for a horizontal axis and the vertical axis | shaft heating part. A period “C” in the figure is a period during which the third step is executed. When the second step indicated by “B” in the figure is completed, the heating to the outer bottom of the inner pot is stopped, and the temperature of the outer bottom of the inner pot gradually decreases. Steaming is performed while the temperature in the inner pot gradually decreases. The fact that the flavor is improved by steaming is the same as that for white rice in the grain before milling.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the time which performs a 3rd step shall be 20 minutes-90 minutes. This condition is also obtained by performing the same test as in the first embodiment. Here, each time set as the execution time of the third step is the time from when the heating in the second step is stopped until the cooking of rice is completed. When rice cooking is completed is when the sex white rice grain in the inner pan is in a state suitable for eating, for example, the display to indicate the operating state of the grain rice cooker before milling is from `` rice cooking '' to `` For example, when switching to “insulation”. In addition, it is preferable to have a means for releasing the pressure in the inner pot 2 minutes to 5 minutes before the third step is completed. For example, it is preferable to perform control so as to release the pressure in the inner pot using an electromagnetic valve or the like. This is because it is dangerous if the lid is opened while the pressure in the inner pot is high.

FIG. 8 is a table showing the evaluation results for each time for executing the third step, which is a test performed subsequent to the test of the first embodiment. As shown in the drawing, good evaluation results were obtained when the time for executing the third step (S3 time) was 20 minutes to 90 minutes. In addition, when it exceeded 90 minutes, the nonuniformity might arise in cooking in the upper part and the lower part of an inner pot. Moreover, when it was shorter than 20 minutes, stickiness was sometimes felt.
<Embodiment 2 effect>

  With the pre-refined grain rice cooker of this embodiment, the rice cooking recipe including the process of steaming is performed, so that it can be cooked with more flavor.

Claims (4)

Inner pot,
An inner pot heating section,
A pressure adjusting valve that adjusts the pressure in the inner pan in the closed state so that 1.5 to 2.2 atm is the upper limit;
After receiving the operation start command, the inner bottom pan temperature is maintained at 110 ° C. ± 10 ° C. for a predetermined time with the pressure regulating valve closed without passing through the step of immersing the pre-milled grains in water. A first step of controlling the pan heating unit;
A second step of controlling the inner pot heating unit to increase the temperature of the inner pot outer bottom to 135 ± 20 ° C. after the predetermined time has elapsed;
A rice cooking recipe execution unit for executing a rice cooking recipe comprising:
An operation start command input receiving unit for receiving an input of an operation start command for cooking rice;
Pre-milled grain grain rice cooker.   The pre-milling grain rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the time for executing the first step is 10 to 25 minutes.   The said rice cooking recipe is a grain rice cooker before grain refinement | control which has a 3rd step which controls an inner pot heating part so that it may heat-retain in a pressure regulation valve closed state after completion | finish of said 2nd step.   The pre-milling grain rice cooker according to claim 3, wherein the time for executing the third step is 20 to 90 minutes.

Images